Hi i was wondering if anyone knew of some good exercises to help target the upper chest, as im in need of some new ones thanks.

Noah,

The basics:

incline barbell or dumbell press

incline cable or dumbell flyes

incline plate press

John

Thanks man

I wouldnt necessarily focus on different exercises but I would try to focus on one exercise and master the technique. Most people who lack chest development, owe it to poor technique. Believe it or not, it is possible to do 4-5 chest exercises, and end up with huge shoulders and tris, and small chest.


Since you lack upper chest development, I would choose the incline dumbell press. Tuck your elbows to your sides a little bit ( 45 degree angle) and go as deep as possible. Ideally you want the dumbells to touch the side of the chest/shoulder area. You want to take advantage of the stretch reflex since you get such a great stretch when you use dumbells. So control the negative, no pause at the bottom, and then fast positive. No pause at the top as well.

Kostas

Great point. I was assuming form was not an issue here but sometimes it is not safe to assume people are doing chest exercises properly. I would also add to this that one should concentrate on bringing their arms together rather than "pushing up" the weight.

John

thanks for the advice

Yeah man, don't try to reinvent the wheel. Stick to the basics. Your incline bench press is what is primarily going to build your upper pecs. Some machines like the incline hammer strength or incline leverage chest press can be beneficial as well, but for the most part I would suggest that you alternate each chest workout with the incline barbell and dumbbell press to get the best of both worlds. A general rule of thumb for anyone trying to bring up a weak point is to begin the workout with it. So for example instead of starting weith heavy flat bench like most guys do, start with heavy incline presses to bring that nutrient rich blood flowing through the upper pecs. Here is one of my favorite chest routines to do when trying to focus on my upper pecs:

Incline bench press: 4 sets of 8-12 reps. Increase the weight each set if possible with a rep scheme of 12,10,8,8 reps.

Flat bench press: 4 sets of 8-12 reps.

Incline dumbbell fly: 4 sets of 10-12 reps.

Cable fly: 4 sets of 10-12 reps. Try to fly the cables over the upper pecs.

Incline leverage or hammer strength chest press: 4 sets of 8-12 reps. This is a great finisher regardless of the goal in mind and it will definitely fry your upper pecs.

For chest its always best to start with a lighter weight and increase the weight each set. Your post workout nutrition is very important. I suggest having 45-60 grams of whey protein with an insulin spiking carb source such as a 6-8 oz glass of grape juice. This will speed up the recovery process thus reversing muscle break down and will help you make gains.